"One minute left."
Datch sat facing Kang, his tone relaxed and calm, as if he didn't care about the man at all.
The Emperor sat quietly beside him, listening to the conversation between the Nameless One and He Who Remains.
Coming to this universe had been an eye-opening experience for him, and he realised his past actions had been somewhat narrow in vision.
It was a habit he would have to improve.
"This universe needs time management." Kang stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the timeline outside.
The sacred timeline he had corrected again and again and carefully maintained for centuries was turning slowly outside the palace window.
Each arc of light was a branch forcibly bound to the main trunk.
Held by the sacred timeline device, they strained to stay in sync with the trunk.
Every attempt to stretch outward was blocked by an invisible restraining force and pulled back.
"If the sacred timeline is destroyed, the branches growing from it will start fighting each other, and countless lives will be lost."
"I've lived through that war, when countless parallel universes tore each other apart, and the people of every timeline insisted that their reality was the only true one."
"With every collision, countless civilisations were wiped out down to the very foundations of their existence, and you were forced to watch your loved ones die again and again."
"That's why I built the sacred timeline. I wanted to end the war and never see that suffering again."
"If you destroy the Time Bureau, the war will start again, and the whole multiverse will fall into chaos and slaughter."
Kang's voice wasn't loud, yet every word was full of force and emotion.
Only someone who had lived through trauma could speak of what they needed with such feeling.
"Not every living thing is a puppet. They don't need to walk a predetermined path."
Datch's tone was calm and assured, every word sounding like a basic formula proven countless times.
"And if the other path is full of chaos and bloodshed?"
Kang turned and leaned against the window, which reflected the light and shadow of flowing time.
His gaze moved from Datch to the Emperor, then back to Datch.
"I can sense that you have an astonishing power that nothing in this multiverse has ever reached."
"I'm curious. How would you handle it?"
"When countless parallel universes start killing each other because they've lost the restraint of the sacred timeline, and tens of billions of lives are lost to the chaos you've unleashed, whose side will you take?"
"Will you choose, among the warring timelines, the one you think is right and deserves protection? Or will you let them fight until only one is left?"
Datch was unmoved. He smiled and shook his head.
"Every living being needs free will and the chance to change its own future. The future may fall into chaos, but people will win their freedom through their own strength in the end and keep moving forward."
"Taking away their free will may look safe at first glance, but really it's like drawing a circle around them and trapping them in the same place forever."
After everything he had experienced in the Warhammer world, how much darker could things get?
He remembered clearly that even without his intervention, He Who Remains's rule would have been ended by Loki.
His death would not have caused chaos; instead, it would have made Loki the god who protects every timeline of the story,
bringing unprecedented vitality and growth to the entire multiverse.
"If everyone dies, what's the point of free will?" Kang took a step forward, his voice rising, violently agitated.
Kang was not a man easily swayed by emotion.
But no one could stay calm when the sacred timeline system he had painstakingly built over centuries was so casually and completely rejected.
"So you'd take away everyone's free will just to protect them?" Datch shot back.
His voice wasn't loud, yet every word struck squarely at the weakest point of the mental defences Kang had reinforced over centuries.
Kang's mouth moved several times, but no rebuttal came out.
The palace was silent for a long time.
Kang had to admit one thing: he had selfish motives.
There was a certain thrill in manipulating everyone into acting out the story he wanted. It was the thrill of dominating every living thing.
That kind of pleasure was irresistible.
He kept telling himself that everything he did was to protect the universe from war and chaos,
yet deep in his heart, he still craved that pleasure.
Watching countless ordinary people play out every joy and anger, sorrow and happiness within a script he had written himself
brought a satisfaction that welled up from the depths of his soul, like a creator admiring his own creation.
"Every living thing should walk its own path. They don't need a protagonist who destroys everything, or a god who takes away their free will."
At Datch's words, Kang looked dejected, then gave a bitter smile.
He had poured countless time and effort into this sacred timeline.
To them, it was nothing more than a prison of his own making.
Kang was silent for a long time, the light and shadow of the sacred timeline outside the window flickering over his face.
"It seems you've made your decision. I hope you don't come to regret it."
Kang held out a palm-sized rectangular device.
Its shell was made of the same time crystal as the palace walls, with a deep-red button set in its centre.
"Press this button and the sacred timeline device will stop operating. Branches will no longer be deleted automatically."
Datch took it and, almost by reflex, opened its information panel.
A faintly glowing panel appeared out of thin air.
[Equipment: Sacred Timeline Controller]
Who would have imagined that this little gadget controlled the entire timeline?
One press of the switch, and the whole timeline shuts down.
Evaluation: "The peace of mind that comes from surrendering free will and the chaotic future of dying for freedom are both contained in this small controller."
He held the controller and pressed the button without a moment's hesitation.
A clear click echoed through the time-crystal palace.
The arcs of light representing the sacred timeline outside the window instantly fell apart, scattering from the centre like countless branches.
Each branch grew on its own, far faster than the Time Bureau had ever planned for, spreading in every direction into countless new branches.
All the parallel universes that had been held back for centuries were granted the right to grow freely.
Seeing that Datch had made his choice, Kang closed his eyes and waited for death.
He waited a long time, but nothing happened.
"You're not going to kill me?" Kang asked, confused. He had been sure he would be killed.
"Why would I need to kill you?" Datch asked, puzzled.
"I tried to kill you, and not just once," Kang said, trying to explain why he deserved to die.
"From the moment you set foot in New York, I sent every capture team I could, lured superheroes into getting rid of you, and created countless logical contradictions in the timeline to erase your existence completely."
"Do you get angry when a child provokes you?" Datch replied. "Besides, you could never kill me."
Kang fell silent at once.
Somehow that stung. Was he saying I'm naive about the world?
Damn it, I can't even argue!!
"Your sin is arrogance and self-righteousness, believing you can decide for everyone and arbitrarily decide whether others live or die. A sin like that deserves death."
Datch stood up, paused briefly, then went on.
"But I think death would be too lenient a punishment for you."
"Live. Only by living can you witness what the future brings."
"The most terrible punishment in the universe is to shatter a person's strongest belief."
Datch spoke calmly and pointed at the timelines multiplying endlessly outside the window.
"You'll see every being make its own choice, and the whole multiverse will find order again."
"Not the order you pruned into shape, but the order they chose." An order that arose on its own.
At first, Kang dismissed this with contempt.
He had simulated the multiverse's future without the sacred timeline's constraints across countless timelines,
and every simulation had ended in total chaos and final destruction.
Yet what Datch did next made him realise at once that there is always someone more capable than oneself, and always something beyond one's understanding.
Datch used Rick's portal gun to open a portal
and summoned the Eldar Laughing God, Cegorach, from the Warhammer world to the Marvel world.
The Laughing God, in the form of a harlequin, emerged from the passage. His mask was half laughing, half crying, and full of confusion.
He had just been discussing the future of the Eldar and Aeldari on the craftworld.
The next instant, the Nameless One had summoned him to this mysterious palace.
"I want to entrust you with a task," Datch said frankly.
The laughing and crying faces on Cegorach's mask flickered back and forth at high speed, expressing confusion.
"Nameless One, what task do you have for me?"
"Untangle the fate of every being, guide each of them into their own story, let them experience the absurdity and whims of fate, and help them live a magnificent life. In return, the Eldar will help manage the timeline and gain a chance to recover," Datch explained concisely.
After weighing his options, Cegorach finally nodded. "I accept."
Datch told him the whole story.
The collapse of the sacred timeline had left countless branches growing independently.
They needed to be re-examined by someone who understood the absurdity and whims of fate,
and Cegorach the Laughing God was the most suitable candidate.
Of course, the other best option was Loki.
But Loki wasn't ready yet, so Datch had no choice but to pick Cegorach.
Datch opened his game inventory, took out the Heart of the Universe and equipped it, instantly gaining supreme power and coming infinitely close to the One Above All, the supreme being of the Marvel Universe.
In this state, nothing in the Marvel Universe could threaten him.
Datch helped Cegorach gather every timeline scattered across the Marvel Universe and seated him on the Throne of Time.
Countless branches converged on a single point; each found its place under the Laughing God's fingertips, forming the Tree of Fate.
Every vein was a tapestry woven by fate, and every leaf held every story woven by every living being in the universe.
And so Cegorach rose to become the ruler of fate and time in the Marvel Universe.
Chance encounters, unexpected deaths, sudden reunions:
Every moment humans call "fate" might now be the work of the new ruler of fate, pulling its threads behind the scenes.
Datch sent the Eldar into the void dimension of the Marvel Universe to rebuild the Bureau and help the Laughing God Cegorach manage the multiverse.
Their mission was to stop anyone who tried to start wars or destroy the multiverse.
Kang witnessed all of it, yet the chaos and collapse he had expected never came.
The mysterious outsider had solved the problem that had plagued him with effortless ease.
"You're right," Kang sighed. "I really was acting like a clown."
In the end, Datch didn't kill Kang. Instead, he had him stay in the new time-management organisation and manage the complex timelines alongside the Eldar.
With the Time Bureau problem resolved, Datch returned to the main timeline with the Emperor.
By then, the territory under the Imperium of Man's control was expanding at an extraordinary rate.
Many interstellar powers that had once been enemies were forced to unite against the Imperium of Man:
the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos, the Ravagers, the Sovereign, and many others.
Next to their personal ambitions and dreams, the threat posed by the Imperium of Man was the most terrifying of all.
Once the double-headed eagle covered the entire sky, everything they had ever done would become meaningless.
Having finished his negotiations with the Time Bureau, Datch decided to deal with these resistance forces.
His first target was Thanos.
The cosmic tyrant had been a nightmare for countless planets. He had always held to the idea of cosmic balance:
When there were too many living beings, they would consume the universe's resources to exhaustion and ultimately bring about its collapse.
So, to keep the universe in balance, half of all living things had to be eliminated.
On every planet he conquered, half the inhabitants were massacred, and the other half were left alive.
Many civilisations rejected his ideology but couldn't defeat him. All they could do was fear him.
Normally, it would have been impossible for so many civilisations to ally with Thanos.
But the Imperium of Man was too great a threat. It wielded both technology and magic, and its military might was unprecedented.
To strengthen the resistance, they had no choice but to ally with Thanos against the Imperium of Man.
But the alliance went no further than fighting the Imperium.
If the Imperium of Man fell, the alliance would collapse at once, and the two sides would most likely go straight to war with each other.
Datch led the Emperor to the battlefield where Thanos was, ready to confront him in person.
When they arrived, the tyrant was locked in combat with a group of Astartes.
Thanos was a purple-skinned giant with grotesquely bulging muscles.
His terrible strength was too much even for the enhanced original Astartes.
...